This blog is moving to a new home...

It's a bittersweet day today. After over 4 years of The Adventures of an Accidental Cook I've decided it's time to move on...to bigger and better places. I've finally taken the plunge and bought a domain name. It feels like a big commitment, like getting married or buying a house. But I feel like I've tested the water enough now to know that I love food writing and this is what I want to do. I'd love it to lead to more than a blog, but only time will provide me with the answer to that. In the meantime all I can do is continue to share with you my cooking adventures, ideas, recipes and love for all things food!

So please join me in my new home:

www.theaccidentalcook.me

and follow me on social media

Twitter: @accidental_cook

Instagram: the_accidental_cook

I will have a new blog post on next week. See you soon!

If at first you don't succeed...

I tend to only write a post when I perfect a dish, but actually sometimes I think it's nice to blog anyway, ultimately it's about the journey not just the destination. If you don't make mistakes how will you ever grow and learn. That's as true for cooking as it is for every walk of life, but perhaps that's too deep for a food blog! 

Sorry, I digress, so today I made a healthy fruit crumble. I mainly did it for the kids. Normally when I see things that say gluten free, refined sugar free or dairy free I just think #boring (Note: I am living my life through hashtags at the moment, I think they add a sense of occasion)! But for the little ones I try to control the two obvious food enemies - sugar and salt. It's salt that I am particularly paranoid about. Children's kidneys are just too small to process vast quantities of it. Sugar is trickier. I'm not that panicked about obesity just yet. We eat well most the time and I try to get some exercise into our daily routine. And I think if you ban something they just want it more. Forbidden things are always more desirable, another trend that runs through most walks of life! But I do worry about cavities. 

I had to have a filling a few weeks ago. My first one in 10 years. I was gutted. I don't want my children to go through that any time soon. And the only way to prevent it is good brushing and avoiding things that cause tooth decay, namely sugar. Now this is hard. Sugar is everywhere, even in healthy options such as fruits. But it's the refined/added sugar that's lethal. Avoiding sugar makes finding interesting desserts a bit of a challenge. Hence my healthy fruit crumble. No added sugar and a healthy oat and almond topping. The verdict was a mixed bag. SG is too small to have much of an opinion. He just gave me his winning smile after every mouthful. CM made a face like she was sucking lemons and asked to get down from the table after two bites. N loved it. I think it could use some improvements. Maybe sweeter fruits. Perhaps a natural sugar source (honey or maple syrup) mixed with the oat topping to provide a more crunchy granola consistency. I will try it again one day and let you know how it goes. This recipe is work in progress. 

Recipe

 

Ingredients 

Apple - peeled, cored and cut into cubes 

Frozen mixed berries 

Cinnamon 

Nutmeg 

Water 

Porridge oats 

Butter

Crushed flaked almonds 

Vanilla powder 

Method 

- Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees fan 

- Put the apple, berries, cinnamon, nutmeg and a tablespoon of water into a saucepan and stew over a low heat until the apples become soft and it forms a jam like consistency 

- in a separate bowl mix the porridge oats, butter, almonds and vanilla powder until everything is coated in butter and starts to stick together 

- transfer the fruit mixture into a greased oven proof dish 

- top with the oat mixture 

- bake for 30 mins 

Start your day right!

I like cake! There I said it. But it doesn't stop there. I also like chocolate, and biscuits, and carbs and crisps. It's about time I came to terms with it. I'd love to be one of those people (and I do know a few) that just 'don't really like bread or potatoes' or anything unhealthy. Well good for them for being so virtuous, or for lying to themselves, but sadly I'm not one of them. But it's ok to like these things, it's just about willpower and moderation. Sadly that's been the missing link these days. I haven't been great with balancing my diet. I have some pretty valid excuses, I get about 5 hours sleep a night, and that's often not even in one stretch, and with 2 young children food is generally of the 'grab and go' variety. But these are just excuses. Ultimately no one cares if I eat bad stuff except me. Yes I look ok and my clothes fit fine but I know I could do better and I plan to start. And what better place to start than breakfast, after all it is the most important meal of the day! 

I'd really love to start my day with eggs on toast. And actually if you poach the egg and use granary bread it's quite a healthy breakfast. But it's not always practical so like most people I often have to settle for cereal. Full-of-sugar, hungry-again-after-an-hour cereal! But we all know that oats are great for you and apparently fill you up for longer. The problem is there's no way I can cook porridge on a hob while trying to feed two kids. So granola it is, but have you ever seen how much sugar there is in granola? Even in the apparently 'no added sugar' ones I found 18g of sugar in 50g portion! I know it's from dried fruit but that's a third of the bowl full of sugar. Following a recommendation from a friend I have found a great low sugar granola (Lizi's) with 3g of sugar in a 50g portion (although I'm sure my portion sizes also need reviewing)! But it does means I can treat myself to a tablespoon of fruit yoghurt and some fresh fruit and make a yummy but not too sinful breakfast. 

But now for my amazing breakfast discovery. Ok for some of you hipsters this will be old news but I often cotton on to things a bit late. Yes it's overnight oats. I wish I had known you could make delicious creamy porridge oats without cooking them. It takes me less than 5 mins the evening before, I then get to dream about them all night and then devour them the next morning. Now that is a great start to the day! 

Overnight Oats 

- place 7 tablespoons of porridge oats in a bowl, jar or container

- pour over approx 100ml milk (regular milk or specialist milk such as almond or coconut) to cover the oats completely 

- add goji berries and seeds (e.g. flax, linseed, sunflower seeds etc) as required 

- add 1-2 tables spoons plain or flavoured yoghurt 

- top with fresh fruit e.g blueberries, banana, strawberries etc 

- leave in the fridge for 2 hours but preferably overnight 

- stir and enjoy! 

Other great toppings are nuts, coconut chips, peanut butter, raisins or dried fruit and chocolate shavings 

These days it's all about shortcuts.

How did I not know about soffritto mix before now. For years I have sweated blood and tears (OK blatant exaggeration) to finely chop onion, celery and carrots to make the base for my bolognese or casseroles, when all this time I could have got waitrose to do it for me! Of course it's more expensive. I think almost all shortcuts are, but that's the price you pay for convenience. The key is working out whether the time and effort you save justifies the additional cost, for you. And it's those last 2 words that are key. Everyone's priorities are different and a corner I feel comfortable cutting someone else may not. But after having SG I realised 2 young children = no time for me. So now I proudly say, my name is mummy (I have no name anymore) and I cut corners! 

N has always said to me it's better to do an 80% job than not do it. I used to struggle with this. If I couldn't clean my whole bathroom properly, by moving all the products and using all my fancy cleaning supplies, I would wait. If I did that now we would be living in squalor! So I have lowered my standards and actually my house is probably cleaner. I guess I should have listened to N in the first place (don't tell him that though!). 

So what are my favourite shortcuts? Well Dettol wipes are my new best friend. I buy them on offer and clean everything with them (except the kids)! They adorn every single room in my house. And my new favourite hack (I could talk about that slightly strange word for a whole post, but basically it means clever solutions for tricky problems) is rubbing a lemon on limescale. I recently bought a book of the memoirs of a 1930s housemaid (I am having Downton withdrawal symptoms) and this was one of her insightful tips. Before I throw a used lemon away I find a bit of limescale, and trust me there is plenty, rub it over it, and rinse later. 

My favourite beauty shortcut is using coconut oil to remove my makeup, it doubles as an amazing moisturiser, thereby killing two birds with one stone. And for cooking there's nothing better than my freezer. Frozen onion, garlic, ginger, chilli, herbs and now soffritto. Definitely more expensive but when you're in a hurry to cook a decent fresh meal they can shave off crucial minutes. 

So what are your favourite shortcuts (and hacks). I'd love to hear them. 

Recipe Kit Revolution

I'm in a food funk! It's like a rut but worse. Not only do I not know what to cook for dinner, I also don't know what to write about. Most of it's just lack of time. Lack of time to shop, to cook and even just to think. But that's just what life is like these days. Kids or not, life is busy and frantic. Which is why I thought I'd try out this new craze of recipe kits. 

There's quite a few out there so it's hard to know which to go for. My initial thought was to try Gusto as I got a voucher for £25 off, but they were pipped to the post by Hello Fresh who sent me a completely free box via a recommend a friend deal. Free meals, you'd be crazy to say no. Although the catch is you have to sign up with credit card details and if you don't want to continue you have to remember to cancel your subscription. Neither of those two scenarios is easy for someone who finds she doesn't even have time to think, but never-the-less Thursday morning came and a box containing 3 meals for 2 people arrived. Beautifully packed, with all the ingredients segregated according to their use and storage instructions, I opened the box and my heart dropped. No don't worry, there wasn't anything amiss, except of course my unrealistic expectations. I'm not sure why I thought I'd open the box and find all the ingredients weighed, cleaned and prepped ready to throw together and make an exquisite meal. But they were just raw ingredients. A whole potato, garlic cloves with their peel on and green peppers with with seeds in. The outrage! Ok, I know I sound like the height of laziness, but I'd stupidly started to envision a life of luxury! But once I got over the shock of having to use a peeler and a knife the excitement of trying out a new recipe kicked in. I had a a choice of three, but the people at Hello Fresh cleverly put a sticker on the recipe to tell you how long the ingredients will keep for. So not only is the shopping done for you, so is the meal planning. I was recommended to make the Five Spiced Chicken with Bok Choi first. I throughly enjoyed cooking it and I definitely enjoyed eating it. The minestrone soup was pretty amazing too. Sadly the Prawn and Serrano Linguine didn't go down as well. No fault of the recipe of course, it's just that N doesn't like things with cream, except for chocolate eclairs of course! 

Hello Fresh Five Spiced Chicken with Bok Choi

For recipe see:

https://www.hellofresh.co.uk/recipe/detail/54ad393c6ced6eca2a8b456d/hellofresh-five-spiced-chicken-with-bok-choi-swap/download/

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

5 more sleeps till Christmas! I'm not quite sure how that happened but I for one am very excited. I've always loved Christmas but now that CM is old enough to understand it, it's even more fun. The tree's up and looking rather festive with its new gold and berry coloured baubles, although N and CM have already eaten all the chocolate decorations! 

So the start of my Christmas cooking journey started today with a Christmas biscuit baking session with CM. I was inspired by an excellent children's baking workshop we went to last weekend run by West London Kiddy Cook teacher Bernadette Ryder. Kiddy Cook is a fantastic franchise that runs cooking and baking workshops for children of all ages. I am a big fan of cooking with children and apart from hoping to pass on my love of cooking to CM I also think it is amazing way to help a child's development. Just in the simple act of baking you can improve motor skills, increase concentration, teach counting and practice colours. I bake with CM regularly but it was fun to go to a professional workshop as it also taught me how to cook with a toddler. I always wonder if I am giving her enough to do or maybe expecting too much from her. Bernadette's Christmas Cookery Workshop was fantastic. She had everything planned and tailored to capture the attention of the little ones, from a sing and dance session at the beginning, a doll called Katy Custard (that CM still talks about), picture cards to help visual recognition and appropriate equipment for young children. We made gingerbread people and chocolate truffles. Delicious. Sorry there are no photos, the family ate them all too quickly! But I will definitely be making the truffles again and I couldn't wait to make some Christmas Spiced biscuits today! 

And so to get into the Christmas spirit we sang Christmas songs and baked. Although the only song CM knows is jingle bells so we soon gave up and put the radio on. But it definitely got me in the mood for our trip to see Santa this afternoon. CM asked Santa to buy her 'a present'. That makes it pretty easy for mummy. But she did tell Santa that SG wants an orange car. I guess I better do some last minute shopping! 

For more information on children's cooking classes visit www.kiddycook.co.uk 

Spiced Christmas Biscuits 

(Makes approximately 24) 

Ingredients 

- 350g plain flour

- 125g demarara sugar

- 100g butter

- 2 eggs

- 4 tbs golden syrup

- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 

- 1 tsp ground ginger

- 1/2 tsp all spice 

Method 

- heat the oven to 200C/180F 

- in a large bowl mix together the flour, butter, ground spices and bicarbonate of soda with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs 

- in a separate bowl beat together the eggs, sugar and syrup 

- add to the dry mix and work together to form a pastry. 

- if you have time, cover the bowl and put in the fridge for 30 mins to make it easier to work with 

- roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into Christmassy shapes 

- place the shapes onto a greased baking tray approx 2cm apart so they have room to spread when they bake 

- bake for 15 mins until golden 

- cool on a wire rack 

- decorate if your toddler has the patience! 

Use-it-all-up minestrone soup

My supermarket delivery comes tomorrow which means today was my clear-out-the-fridge day. I have a few recipes that help me use up my odds and ends - stir fries, risottos or casseroles are my classics. But as I didn't have any 'meaty' stuff like chicken or prawns in the fridge, today I decided to make a minestrone soup. Of course it you have some bacon that would taste great but it tastes just as good without. There's no formal recipe. Fry some onion and garlic, add a couple of chopped tomatoes, throw in whatever veggies you have at home - I used carrots, broccoli, courgette, celery and leek - add a small tin of beans (butter beans are great, but kidney beans work well too), a couple of handfuls of pasta or broken up spaghetti and a tablespoon of tomato purée. Give it a good stir and add some vegetable stock, a bouquet garni and some herbs (dry, fresh or frozen). Bring it to the boil and simmer for 15 mins. Serve with a crusty baguette. Or if you've got some bread going a bit stale (hard is fine but no mould please!) cut it up and fry it to make croutons. Perfect for a dark October evening. 

 

COOK!

I haven't had a ready meal in years.  They conjure up memories of my student days. The sound of a fork piercing the plastic, the ping of the microwave, the steam when you peel back the film...processed dinner in a black plastic container. Yum! Don't worry I know I'm exaggerating, things have improved a lot since the ready meals of the 90's and I'm not claiming to be completely virtuous by any means. I always have a pizza or a pie in the freezer and I use pre-prepared vegetables more often than I can justify. But still, it was with slight trepidation I entered the COOK shop the other day. 

I happened to stumble across a branch while I was out on one of my escapades with SG. My curiosity got the better of me. COOK claims to make 'home-cooked' ready meals, made in their kitchens in Kent and frozen within one hour of production. The range was amazing. Indian, Chinese, Italian, British, Thai, you name it. Starters, main course and desserts. Servings for one person, two people, families of four, dinner parties and a special childrens range with no added sugar or salt. There was definitely something for everybody. I had only intended to window shop but I couldn't resist. So last night we had pork and beef meatballs in tomato sauce. I made the rice myself and I couldn't resist whipping up a side of garlic spinach, as a meal without veggies always feels incomplete to me. 

The end result was good but it also reminded me why I love to cook. By cooking yourself you can make dishes exactly the way you love them. COOK's Meatballs in a Rustic Tomato Sauce were perfectly good. The portion was generous for 2 people, the meatballs good quality and it really did feel home-cooked. But for me the sundried tomatoes made the sauce a bit too sweet and the large meatballs gave the dish a dense meaty taste. In my opinion smaller meatballs would have given a better sauce to meat ratio. But the fact it gave me a night off cooking made the compromises worthwhile. I may not buy this dish again but I will definitely be going back to COOK to try something else. In fact I have a one person portion of Chicken Pad Thai waiting in the freezer. All I need now is for N to make other plans...

Therapeutic Chocolate Tart

Saturday morning was stressful. Nothing serious of course, just the normal chaos you get when you have young children.  Toddler tantrums over clothes and colour of breakfast bowls are becoming the norm for me now but for some reason Saturday pushed me a little too far. CM and I ended up in a rut where we just spent the whole morning rubbing each other up the wrong way. I needed something to break the cycle and help me de-stress. I had to bake. I've never really thought about it before but there is something about cooking, in particular baking, which I find therapeutic. I think most people have something that helps them release the tension of the day and gives them time and space to clear their head. A fried mentioned this week that cleaning is her therapy, I think that's probably quite a common one. A more unusual one I heard recently was from someone who had bought a connect-the-dots book from an art gallery which allows you to recreate famous paintings. She said it helped her claer the muddle of thoughts in her head. I think this latest fad of colouring books for grown ups is along this same line. N's therapy is playing the drums (or playing really pointless computer games on his iPad)! So what is it about baking? For me it's the mindfulness of following a recipe and the precision involved with weighing and measuring. It reminds me of my A Level Chemistry, although I'm not sure I found that particularly therapeutic at the time! I also love that you can create something so beautiful and delicious from just basic raw ingredients. It gives me a real sense if achievement. But I don't have time to bake I hear you say.  Me neither, which is why I cheated and bought a ready made pastry case! But that's not baking then I hear you say. Who cares is my response to that. I got to a chance to organise my thoughts and eat a delicious desert. It's a win win! And to call a truce with CM I let her decorate it! 

Cheat's Chocolate Tart 

(Prep time 20 mins | setting time 2 hours) 

Ingredients 

 

300 ml double cream

2 tsp caster sugar

A pinch of fine sea salt

50 g unsalted butter - cubed

200 g plain chocolate (50% cocoa) - broken into small pieces 

50 ml milk

Waitrose sweet pastry case

Method

- Put the cream, sugar and salt in a pan and bring to the boil. Remove as soon as the mixture starts to boils up.

- Once off the heat, add the butter and chocolate and stir well until it is blended
- Wait a few movements and then stir in the milk until it is shiny

- Pour into the tart shell and leave at room temperature for 1 hour to set and then in the fridge for a further hour 
- Top with fresh raspberries, chocolate sprinkles or anything that takes your fancy

- Serve with cream or ice cream 

Mamma's Homemade Chicken Karahi

Although I've been brought up on Indian food I rarely make it. For starters it's not N's favourite but also I never thought I could make it as well as my mum so I never bothered. But every few weeks or so I get a random urge to cook something fragrant and full of spice. Or sometimes I am nudged into it as the case was last week! I had just defrosted a couple of chicken breast fillets with a view to making a casserole or a risotto but that very same morning my mum-in-law dropped round some yummy daal (lentils) that she had made. My two choices were to waste the chicken or cook something that went with daal. I normally make tandoori chicken but I had defrosted breast pieces and was worried it  would taste dry if it was oven cooked. A dish with gravy would be better. I happened to drop my dilemma into conversation with my mum and she gave me the inspiration I needed. The recipe below is hers, although if you ever asked her she would say she never cooks to recipes she just does what works! When I was growing up my mum used to tell me cooking was easy. I never believed her but I think she was right. Anyone can cook....but it helps to have a good teacher. Thank you mum! 

Chicken Karahi 

(Serves 2 | total prep and cooking time 30-40 mins plus marinating time) 

Ingredients 

- 2 chicken breasts (or equivalent thighs) cut into 1-inch pieces

- marinade (2 tbs yoghurt, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, pinch garam masala, 1/2 tsp tumeric, pinch salt)

- 1 small onion - very finely chopped

- 3-4 cloves of garlic - finely chopped

- 1-2 inch piece of ginger - finely chopped 

- teaspoon finely chopped chilli (optional) 

- cumin seeds (approx 1 heaped teaspoon) 

- coriander powder (1 teaspoon)

- cumin powder (1 teaspoon) 

- tumeric (1/2 teaspoon) 

- 3 tomatoes - chopped 

- 1 tablespoon tomato purée

- 1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander 

- salt to taste 

- water 

Method 

- mix the marinade in a large bowl and stir in the chicken pieces. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours but overnight is better

- heat a large frying pan and place the chicken and all the marinade in it. Fry it until the marinade dries out and the chicken starts to colour. Set aside 

- heat some oil in a saucepan or sauté pan and add the cumin seeds. Fry until they start to colour

- fry the onions, garlic, ginger and chilli (to make sure they are finely chopped and made into a paste consistency you can do this in a food processor)

- add the dry spices

- add the tomatoes and tomato purée and stir well 

- add the chicken and stir well 

- add coriander, salt and pour in a little bit if water

- cover and cook for 20-30 mins until the chicken is cooked. Add more water if it dries out 

Autumnal Lamb Ragu with Papardelle Pasta

I can't believe summer has gone. Did we have one this year, I'm not sure I remember. Or at least I definitely didn't make the most of it. I remember a few baking hot days when I was heavily pregnant. They were torture. And I remember some hot days when I was cooped up indoors to nervous to go out in the heat with a newborn. They were frustrating. But the weather seems to have become dreary ever so sudden. One minute I had painted toenails and strappy sandals and now I have a chest infection and a hooded anorak. Oh hang on, painted toenails, that must have been 3 years ago before I had children! But the hacking cough is definitely not an exaggeration, we all have it thanks to some nursery germs CM brought home! 

The thing that made me realise it was autumn was when I noticed spiky green balls all over my driveway. Yes you've got it in one, it's conker time! CM has been having a whale of a time jumping on conkers. I have to plan an extra 20 minutes every time I need to go anywhere because the minute I open the front door she runs out shouting 'flatten it, flatten it!', something I guess I must have said when I introduced her to the art of conker collecting. Just like she runs around flapping her arms and saying 'kill it, kill it!' every time she sees a spider or an insect! Another phrase she must have learnt from me! 

Collecting conkers is one of the most vivid memories from my childhood. My journey home from school included walking through a very long avenue if horse chestnut trees. Every day in conker season I used to rummage around finding the biggest, shiniest conkers and putting them in my pockets for safe keeping whilst my childminder stood patiently watching and waiting. She never once tried to hurry me or tell me I had enough even though it was approaching tea time and my coat pockets were starting to scrape the ground. It's one of those special memories you hope will stay with you forever. 

But autumn also allows me to eat my favourite meals. Tasty, hearty comfort foods. My cooking is not particularly seasonal but I do follow a few patterns. Apart from the odd spring lamb casserole I rarely cook red meat in summer. But I do love lamb. We try not to eat red meat too often for health reasons but I think as long as it is lean meat once a week is fine. This recipe is delicious. A slight twist on a classic bolognese with thick ribbons of pasta and a sauce laced with the last of the summer rosemary and mint from our garden. 

And while it is simmering it gives me a chance to take CM out for some more conker collecting. I only wish I was patient as my childminder when CM asks for the millionth time

CM: "What's dat mummy?"

Me: "It's a conker darling"

CM: "Why?"

Me: "Because it has fallen from a horse chestnut tree"

CM: "Why?" 

Me: "Because it's autumn"

CM: "Why?"

Me: "Because. It. Just. Is!"

Lamb Ragu with Papardelle Pasta 

(Serves 2-3 | total prep and cooking time minimum 1 hour) 

Ingredients

- 1 onion - diced

- 3 cloves of garlic - finely chopped 

- 1 carrot - diced

- 2 sticks of celery - finely sliced 

- 8-10 mushrooms - sliced 

- 400g lamb mince

- 1 lamb stock cube dissolved in 200 ml of water 

- tablespoon chopped mint

- 1 sprig of rosemary - chopped 

- 120-150g dried Papardelle pasta 

- olive oil

Method 

- cook pasta according to packet instructions 

- brown the mince in a frying pan, draining off the excess fat 

- heat the olive oil in another large frying pan or sauté pan 

- fry the onions for a few mins until softened

- add the garlic, carrots and celery and stir for a few minutes 

- add the mushrooms and stir for a few minutes

- add the browned mince and mix well 

- add the herbs and stock and stir 

- simmer for a minimum of 40 minutes, but the longer the better. Keep adding water if it starts to dry out

- add the drained pasta 

Chocolate cake with a difference

Yesterday I made a special chocolate cake. And no before you ask it wasn't an Amsterdam-style special chocolate cake!

I've never been a big baker, I dabble in the odd biscuit or muffin but that's about the extent of it. But cake are big at the moment. Having young children means you spend a lot of weekends shuffling from one birthday party to the next. At the last two parties the cakes were both homemade and spectacular. One was a delightful chocolate cake with a Frozen theme (I've still not seen that so someone please tell me what the fuss is all about!) and the other was a light jam filled sponge in the shape of Frireman Sam's fire engine! They were both amazing and I can only imagine how long they took to make. But rather than being inspired by the Great British Bake Off I was inspired by watching Eat Well for Less with Greg of the John and Greg franchise and some bloke named Chris whom I've never heard of. They followed a family from Birmingham on their weekly shop in order to try and change their eating habits to both save them some money and make them healthier. Now please tell me that it was exaggerated for TV because otherwise I have serious concerns about any family that buys over 40 bags of crisps on a weekly shop. Where would you store them for a start! So one of the recipes they showed them how to make was a chocolate and beetroot cake made without eggs or butter. The crisp-addict family seemed to like it so I thought I'd give it a go. I had no particular reason to make an eggless cake as I eat eggs like they are going out if fashion but curiosity got the better of me and I wondered what a cake bound with yoghurt would taste like. 

So here it is. My magical chocolate cake. I got the recipe from the BBC Good Food website but as usual made some Accidental Cook changes. I reduced the sugar from 175g to 125g and I made only half the suggested amount of icing. It tasted good. The texture was a bit denser and more muffin-like than a regular cake but unless someone told you you wouldn't have know that it was devoid of fun things like butter and eggs. To be honest I would probably stick to traditional chocolate cake in the future but it's a great way to hide some vegetables for fussy eater children! As for my baking skills, I was planning to make CM a cake for her next birthday but I'm not sure her or her friends would want a beetroot and rapeseed oil cake and given my art skills the only thing I could disguise it as would be a peppa pig muddy puddle. I wonder if either of my show-stopper-cake-baking friends take orders instead...

Chocolate and Beetroot Eggless Cake 

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/eggless-chocolate-beetroot-blitz-bake-cake

Substitutions

125g sugar instead of 175g

Half the quantity of icing 

Prawn, Courgette and Chilli Spaghetti

What would you say is your least favourite vegetable? Mine has got to be cauliflower. I'm a very unfussy eater so it's quite unusual for me to really dislike something but cauliflower has to be the one thing I try to avoid at all costs. N has slightly more things on his vegetable black list. Taking the number one slot is definitely courgettes. I can understand his dislike. If a courgette is not cooked properly it can taste pretty bad. I have distinct childhood memories of boiled, mushy, bland courgette. The problem is after a while you get bored of the same vegetables on your shopping list, so over the years the humble courgette has become one of my staples. The challenge is hiding it in food so N will eat it! Up till now I've only ever used it in stir fries and casseroles but I've finally found a winning recipe! It's taken 6 years but I think N has finally accepted that he does like this summer squash relative of the cucumber. Perhaps if I refer to it as a zucchini from now on he will find it even more appealing!! 

Prawn, courgette and chilli spaghetti

(Serves 2 | Total prep and cooking time: 20-30 mins)

Ingredients:

4 cloves of garlic - finely chopped 

1 red chilli - deseeded and finely chopped

250g cooked jumbo king prawns 

1 courgette - thinly sliced using a mandolin or a potato peeler 

Juice of half a lemon

Tablespoon chopped parsley 

Olive oil for frying 

120-150g spaghetti 

Method:

- Cook the spaghetti according to instructions on packet 

- Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan or sauté pan 

- Fry the garlic and chilli

- Add the courgettes and prawns and pan fry for a couple of mins 

- Add the lemon juice and parsley and stir well

- Drain the spaghetti and add to the pan 

- Mix well and cook for a couple of minutes 

I'm Back!

Ok so I lied. Not intentionally of course, but at the end of my last post I did promise to continue to update my blog regularly and all I can say is that I clearly haven't. I think posting every day throughout November scarred me. Not only did I not want to write about food for a while I didn't even want to eat it, cook it or think about it! Poor N, he has been surviving on bread and water since the end of last year. Well clearly not, but I have to say my cooking hasn't been all that adventurous. 

Now of course I have a whole host of excuses to explain my prolonged absence but i won't bore you with them all. But, it has been 9 months since my last post which is a really long time. In fact it's long enough to have a baby. And that's precisely what I did. May I welcome the newest addition to accidental cook family...Seagull (SG). That refers to both the sound he makes and the little 'presents' he leaves for me to clear up! He joins my toddler CM (cheeky monkey) in a house full of chaos and culinary experimentation. 

So back to business. Adventures of an Accidental Cook is back. And this time it's bigger, bolder and brighter (well the blog background is anyway)! And this time I've also learnt my lesson. I'm not going to do anything crazy like post every day but I will promise to post more than once every 9 months! In fact I will post every week. By the end of every Thursday there will be a new post. I'm not promising they will be long and detailed with elaborate recipes but they will be food related and they will be regular. 

So see you next Thursday! 

The end is nigh!

I can't belove it's the last day of my 30 day NaBloPoMo challenge. And I'm sorry to disappoint you but there is no recipe today. The main reason for that is I haven't cooked a thing all day. N and I went out for our first Christmas dinner with friends today. It was a lovely evening, good food, good company, but it felt a little to early to be Christmas. I ate turkey and we pulled crackers but I still don't feel festive yet. Saying that advent calendars start tomorrow and I must put up my tree this week. Once I've done that I'm sure that will get me in the mood. And now my 30 days food blogging challenge is over I can start thinking about Christmas shopping. And all the other things I've put on hold for the last month. Because amazingly by spending 30 minutes every day writing a post, I have neglected everything else. My admin pile is mountaining, I have phone calls to return, we are running short of clean clothes and lets not even start talking about my skirting boards! That is because I now realise that the only 'free-time' I have every day (weekends are a bit different of course) is about 30 minutes. And I've been using that blogging. But I have no regrets. It was a greater challenge than I had anticipated but I got to the end. It wasn't easy, about day 9 I broke down and sobbed to N that I couldn't do it anymore. But I got past the wall and it was worth it. What an achievement for an absolutely fantastic cause. Thank you to everyone who logged on and read my blog, particularly those of you who logged on every day. Without seeing how many page views I was getting I doubt I would have been motivated to carry on. Thank you to all the wonderful people who favourited and re-tweeted my tweets and to everyone who liked my Facebook status. You have all been amazing and I really hope that somewhere in these 30 posts there has been a recipe of two you have used. 

So for now this is goodbye. I promise to donate my money to CHECT this week. And for any of you feeling particularly generous as Christmas approaches you can donate directly at www.chect.org.uk. Apart from learning how little free time I have, this post has reminded me that if you try you can always find time for something you want to do. So although I have no intention of posting every day I do promise to keep adding something at regular intervals so please make sure you keep checking! 

Capers!

For NaBloPoMo November 2014 my challenge is to upload a post every day thoughout the month. That's 30 days and 30 posts. The more page views I get per day the more money I will donate to the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT). Help support my challenge by logging on daily and donating directly www.chect.org.uk. 

Yesterday's total page views: 100 

I actually managed to find 10 minutes this afternoon to browse through a recipe book. That is something I love to do but I rarely make time for it, there's just too much else to do. I have so many cookery books, thousands of beautiful pages with colourful and exciting recipes waiting to get out. But they just sit there on my shelf tucked away in a dark cupboard. But today I got out my favourite one. Nigel Slater's kitchen diaries, only for once I picked up volume 2.  I stumbled across a beautiful recipe for sea bass with rosemary and capers. I had all the right ingredients at home (except some sherry vinegar, oh and I added a few green olives in for good measure). it must have been fate! 

As a description to the recipe Nigel wrote a beautiful prose about capers. It is amazing how these random salty berries that lurk in the door of the fridge could be so fascinating. Here's an excerpt...

'Capers generally come in brine or salt. The latter is considered better, mostly because the capers are plumper and, although salty, the seasoning stays on the outside and can be washed off - unlike the brined version, where the capers soak up the water solution like sponges. 

The caper is the cooks' first call for piquancy. Bitter, sharp and salty, it has the ability to bring out the flavour of any ingredient it is partnered with. A dull nugget that makes others shine'. 

Nigel is without-a-doubt my food writing guru. I could read his words all day. 

Sea bass with rosemary and capers 

(Serves 2 | total prep and cooking time 40 mins)

Ingredients 

- 2 boneless sea bass fillets 

- approx 250g new potatoes

- olive oil

- 1-2 bushy sprigs of rosemary 

- 1/2 chilli - deseeded and finely chopped 

- tablespoon of capers - rinsed and crushed or chopped slightly 

 - juice of half a lemon

- 2 cloves garlic - finely chopped

- 6-8 green olives - sliced 

- tablespoon of chopped parsley

Method

- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees fan

- Wash the potatoes and cut them into slices about the thickness of a pound coin

- warm a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large, shallow pan or roasting tin set over a moderate to low heat and slide in the potatoes. Cook for a about 10 mins stirring and turning regularly so they don't stick to the pan 

- while the potatoes are cooking remove the needles from the rosemary and place in a small bowl. Add the chilli, capers, olives, lemon juice, tablespoon of olive oil, parsley and garlic and stir well

- when the potatoes have been cooking for 10 mins, take off the heat and lay the sea bass fillets on top. Pour over the dressing and cover the dish with foil

- place in the oven for approx 25 mins until the fish and potatoes are cooked 

Should we chicken out?

For NaBloPoMo November 2014 my challenge is to upload a post every day thoughout the month. That's 30 days and 30 posts. The more page views I get per day the more money I will donate to the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT). Help support my challenge by logging on daily and donating directly www.chect.org.uk. 

Yesterday's total page views: 54

So this chicken contamination story scared me a little today, and my automatic reaction was 'should I stop eating chicken?' Until I realised of course that this is not new. Chicken infected with campylobacter has always been the case, the food standards agency has just happened to release a new report on it. But as much as I always knew you have to be really careful with undercooked chicken or contamination with raw chicken juices I did not know that up to 70% of all supermarket bought fresh chicken is infected. That is huge. And no supermarket is spared although some seem to sell a greater proportion of infected meat than others. And ironically going free range is worse as chickens pick up bacteria from the ground. I know supermarkets have pledged to reduce their rate of infected chicken over the forthcoming years by 'steam-cleaning' the meat but is this really the answer. They only plan to reduce the percentage of campylobacter in chickens by 10% so if you go in to a shop and buy a chicken you still have a very high chance of buying infected poultry. So the only real solution is incredible food hygiene and safe cooking practices.  I like to think I am pretty careful but I guess you can never be too sure. I always use a separate chopping board for meat, chicken and fish and I make sure my chicken is well cooked even if I risk over cooking it. But the best tip I ever learnt was to not wash the chicken. This made no sense to start with, I assumed by washing it you clean it, but actually all you do is spread the bacteria. 

So after my little panic I calmed down. You clearly can't stop eating chicken, but it's a great reminder of how careful you need to be with these things. 

Spag Bol!

For NaBloPoMo November 2014 my challenge is to upload a post every day thoughout the month. That's 30 days and 30 posts. The more page views I get per day the more money I will donate to the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT). Help support my challenge by logging on daily and donating directly www.chect.org.uk. 

Yesterday's total page views: 91

Spaghetti Bolognese is probably one of the most frequently made dinners. In fact it's almost thought of as a bit of a cop out! Especially if you use a ready made sauce. But it doesn't have to be. I try to put a bit of a twist on mine by packing it full of veggies. It makes it taste less dense and it's a fantastic way to boost your 5-a-day, especially for little ones that try to avoid their greens! The key to a great bolognese is to cook the mince on a low heat for as long possible. If you have the time to do this fantastic, but I would add the vegetables a lot later so you can preserve the vitamins. 

My Spag Bol! 

(Serves 2 | total prep and cooking time at least 1 hour)

Ingredients 

- 120-150g spaghetti 

- 400g pack of beef or lamb mince

- 1 onion - diced

- 3 cloves garlic - finely chopped

- 6-7 mushrooms - sliced 

- vegetables e.g leek (very finely chopped), spinach, peas etc 

- 227g tin chopped tomatoes

- lamb or beef stock - how much depends on how long you plan to cook it for, if you don't make enough don't worry you can top up with water if need be

- Italian herbs 

Method 

- cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions

- fry the onion in a large frying pan or sauté pan

- add the garlic and fry for a few moments

- add the mince and brown, stirring regularly so the mince doesn't clump together

- add the mushrooms and vegetables and fry for a few moments 

- pour in the tomatoes and add the herbs. Stir well and cook for a few moments

- add approx 200 ml of stock and simmer for 30 mins. Keep adding water if it dries out or turn up the heat and uncover if there is too much water

- serve on top of the spaghetti or mix the spaghetti into the sauce

Arrabiata

For NaBloPoMo November 2014 my challenge is to upload a post every day thoughout the month. That's 30 days and 30 posts. The more page views I get per day the more money I will donate to the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT). Help support my challenge by logging on daily and donating directly www.chect.org.uk. 

Yesterday's total page views: 42

For some reason I never order Arrabiata when I go out to eat but I quite enjoy making it at home. It's an especially good choice when I have a pack of bacon in the fridge that needs using up. And if I happen to have my back-up ready roast chicken in the fridge it's actually a pretty speedy meal. For some reason I always add mushrooms, I guess it breaks up the meatiness a little. I know it's traditionally meant to be made with penne but I vary the pasta depending on my mood, but to be honest the penne tastes the best! 

Pasta Arrabiata

(Serves 2 | total prep and cooking time 40 mins)

Ingredients 

- 150 g or 6 handfuls of pasta 

- 1 onion - diced 

- 3 cloves of garlic - finely chopped 

- 1/2 chilli - finely chopped 

- 3 tomatoes - chopped

- 150-200g mushrooms - sliced

- 4 rashers of bacon

- 1 chicken breast fillet

- basil or other Italian herbs - frozen, fresh or dried

- black pepper

- 150ml vegetable or chicken stock 

Method

- cut the chicken breast into small pieces and fry in a little oil until sealed all over. Set aside

- heat a little more oil and cook the bacon. Once cooked remove any fat and cut into small pieces

- heat some more oil and fry the onion, garlic and chilli 

- add the mushrooms and cook for a few moments 

- add the tomatoes 

- return the chicken an bacon to the pan and stir well

- add the herbs and the stock and simmer for 10-15 mins until the chicken in cooked through. 

- turn up the heat until any excess liquid has evaporated 

- meanwhile cook pasta according to intstrictions 

- once cooked, drain the pasta and stir into the Arrabiata sauce 

- top with fresh black pepper

A quick meal for a cold winter night

For NaBloPoMo November 2014 my challenge is to upload a post every day thoughout the month. That's 30 days and 30 posts. The more page views I get per day the more money I will donate to the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT). Help support my challenge by logging on daily and donating directly www.chect.org.uk. 

Yesterday's total page views: 66

I can't believe how the weather has changed. I feel like all I have done today is de-ice my car. In my 15 years of working this is the first winter I've ever have to drive to work. I used to envy people that could get into their warm cars on a cold winter morning but I had not accounted for how long it takes to clear frosted windows. Thank goodness for de-icer. It has got to be the best invention. Except for the poor girl that was getting into the car across the road from me this evening. I saw her start her car and just stand outside it waiting. I shouted across the road to ask her if she wanted to borrow some de-icer and she looked eternally grateful. It turns out she had two cans of it in the boot, but her boot had frozen shut. Now how do you possibly account for that! Moral of the story is keep it in the main car, one of those 4 doors is bound to open! 

Anyway, so after reaching home, late and covered in frost, barely feeling my fingers and toes, all I wanted was a hot shower and dinner to be ready for me. Thankfully I had some lemon sole in the fridge and just the recipe for a quicky tasty weekday dinner! 

Lemon Sole

(Serves 2 | total prep and cooking time 25 mins) 

Ingredients 

- 3-4 lemon sole fillets (they are pretty thin so you may need more than one each) 

- olive oil

- juice of 1/2 a lemon

- 2 spring onions - finely sliced 

- 1-2 tablespoons capers - slightly crushed 

- 6-7 green pitted olives - sliced 

- tablespoon chopped parsley 

- black pepper 

Method 

- preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan

- place the fish fillets in an ovenproof dish

- in a bowl mix together the olive oil, lemon juice, spring onions, capers, olive, parsley amd black pepper 

- pour the marinade over the fish

- cover with foil and cook for 10-15 mins until the fish is opaque and flaky

- serve with boiled new potatoes and your choice of vegetables